Jealousy Bonding
by cloudyautumn
Summary: Who knew that Sheena and Colette would find common ground due to really bad assumption? Hints of Oyako/friendships. LK,SC. oneshot


**Jealousy Bonding**

**[one-shot]**

"Psst," Colette looked left and right inquisitively but was met with bright green foliage. She peered into the deep blue river ahead of her, checking to make sure that there wasn't any fish or water spirits calling for her attention. No- there was none. The only thing she saw was her own reflection: a pretty blonde with a pale, heart-shaped face and blue eyes that were wide-eyed with innocence.

"You dummy. Look up here."

Colette blinked before complying. She looked up into the trees and saw Sheena laid out on a wide bough. Although her strange outfit was black and lavender, she was fitting in remarkably well. Hmm. It must have to do with her training.

"Hello Sheena," Colette smiled perkily, waving to her ninja companion.

"Shh. Just fly up here already and be quiet about it," Sheena hissed, patting a vacant expanse of wooden bough near her. Colette nodded slowly, hoping that Sheena wasn't going to try and kill her again. She trusted Sheena though and felt that she should give her the benefit of the doubt; after all, the ninja had saved her enough times recently.

"What's the matter? Are you okay?" Colette asked immediately, her round eyes widening further, giving them a protuberant appearance. Her hands were clasped in front of her face in typical Colette fashion.

"I'm totally fine," Sheena emphasized the _I_, and Colette worried again for a split second that the black-haired girl would try to harm her. She stiffened when she felt Sheena drape an arm over her shoulder.

"Relax," Sheena said soothingly, "it's not you I'm after at the moment. Although-" her elegantly tilted tea-brown eyes hardened, "I must ask- do you admit that you like Lloyd?"

For a second, it went utterly silent. Colette was aware that the buzzing of the cicadas below them became much louder and- was it just her, or did the high noon sun just get a lot hotter?

"Your face is all red," Sheena pointed out dryly, "I would still like an answer nonetheless." Colette's tongue felt really heavy and as she opened her mouth to speak, the only sound she managed to emit was a rather pathetic squeak.

"I- that is..." she began to say, her face getting hotter and hotter until she matched the swordsman in question's outfit. She sighed and hung her head. "Yeah I do." She suddenly seemed fascinated with her white boots and couldn't look Sheena in the eye.

After a moment of silence, she blurted out, "but you like him too, don't you Sheena?" Sheena clearly didn't expect the question to be hurled back at her so quickly and her face grew rosy. She disguised her embarrassment with a cough.

"Yeah, I think I do," she replied fondly, determined not to look at the blonde Chosen . It was a little awkward, to say the least; they both sat there for a moment, each staring in the opposite direction with pink faces.

"Is this all you wanted to ask me?" Colette asked with an unsure air. She worried that perhaps Sheena was trying to establish herself as a rival or warn her away from Lloyd. The ninja was definitely pretty enough, and Colette winced as she recalled Lloyd and Sheena's banter in Luin- where Lloyd had called Sheena cute.

"Ah ah no there was something else," Sheena recalled, removing her arm from where it dangled off of Colette's shoulders. She curled one hand into a fist and was lightly tapping it against her open palm as she thought. "Hmmm... it had something to do with Lloyd, I just can't seem to remember what now."

"Here he comes now with Kratos," Colette pointed out, noticing that the two swordsmen had wandered back into the camp, walking at a leisurely pace. Both looked sweaty and tired but content. Her eyes followed their forms as they settled down on the lush, springy green grass.

"That's it!" Sheena exclaimed, tapping herself on the head with her fist, "that's exactly what I wanted to talk about." Her enthusiasm caused a startled bird to fly out of the tree, causing both Genis and Raine to glance up from their heavy tomes before they focused wholeheartedly again on their books. Colette didn't understand what point Sheena was trying to make; why was she fixated on Kratos too?

Colette gasped as an interesting assumption struck her.

"Oh my goodness," her voice was breathless as she came to a hasty conclusion. Her eyes focused on the older swordsman. "You like them both, don't you!" Sheena whipped her head around to look the Chosen with absolute shock. Colette couldn't tear her eyes away from the mysterious swordsman, she examined his sleek, defined build and his gorgeous shock of red hair. She tried to see what would make Sheena agonize enough for her to warrant a discussion with her- Colette- of all people!

"Oh my god no," Sheena replied in horror when the shock wore off, "no no no, not at all. He's brooding and handsome and all, but I don't feel that way about HIM!"

Colette breathed a sigh of relief. But if that wasn't the case, what was afflicting Sheena? She asked again what was wrong. This time Sheena sighed before pulling out a roll of paper on which was dates and sentences were scrawled messily in black ink.

"Have you ever noticed that Kratos and Lloyd are always really close to each other? I mean, personal-bubble close. Like this," Sheena moved closer to Colette to demonstrate. Out of reflex, Colette back up until her head hit the wooden trunk of the tree. By this point, Sheena's face was so close to Colette's that their lips were almost touching.

Sheena immediately drew back and nodded. "Having someone that close to your face is freaky, isn't it? But it happens between them all the time. They're always within touching distance of each other." She motioned her head in the direction of Lloyd and Kratos; Colette finally noticed that Lloyd was sitting as he normally did, with his legs stretched out and his hands beneath and behind his shoulder blades. He was leaning on his arms to support his weight. Colette saw that Kratos was sitting similar to that except with his legs neatly crossed. Both men had their shoulder's touching and Krato's knee was grazing Lloyd's hip.

From where she was sitting, she could see the profiles of both males. They looked completely at ease and unaware of or unconcerned with their contact. Sheena watched her observe with approval.

"Do you see what I mean?" she continued, and Colette nodded. Sheena continued reading down her list of issues.

"Another thing is they always go off to 'train' together. They leave for hours then come back all sweaty and exhausted but Lloyd has the biggest smiles on his face and Kratos isn't wearing his doom-death-and-gloom face. Like right now- they're both super happy." Colette nodded silently, eying the two swordsmen. Colette had made the same observation herself many times but figured that it was typical male behaviour. Now, discussing it with Sheena made it become something weird and suspicious.

"Third major item on my list- Kratos goes berserk when Lloyd's in trouble. Remember when we were in the Ranch and Kvar was saying all that awful stuff about Lloyd's parents? Kratos was bristling too and I swear he was ready to attack. Later on, when we came in through the secret passage, Lloyd got hit with an out of control beam. It knocked one of his swords out of his hand and one of the Desians came at him with a big hammer."

"And then?" Colette asked nervously, although her anxiety was groundless since Lloyd was fine and within her view at this very moment.

"And I have NEVER seen Kratos move that fast," Sheena finished, "he killed the Desian he was dealing with and Lloyd's Desian before I had enough time to blink." Colette gasped in wonder; part of her was very grateful to Kratos now for his intervention.

"That's not all," Sheena continued, tucking a stray lock of thick, glossy black hair behind her ear, "I noticed that when we battled that first time at Ossa Trail, you guys were all losing strength. Genis was nearly to the point of exhaustion but Kratos didn't notice any of that until Lloyd was hurt. Then Kratos used First Aid immediately. I remember that event struck me as strange, and I thought perhaps they were best friends or brothers or something."

"..."

Colette felt slightly hurt. She and Genis had been friends with Lloyd the longest but to outsiders and enemies, it seemed that Kratos and Lloyd were the inseparable pair. Sheena noticed her glum expression and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.

"After joining up with you guys, I learned the truth of course. I felt after that it was probably Lloyd's personality that drew us all to him the way I was drawn to him," once again Sheena looked away from Colette, her eyes focused solely on the now-laughing young man sitting below them with Kratos.

"But?" Colette felt that Sheena still had more to say. The ninja's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned into a displeased line.

"But I noticed that Kratos' eyes are ALWAYS on Lloyd. He's always watching for him, always there when Lloyd needs him. He's wrapped around Lloyd's finger. Sure, he berates Lloyd and reprimands him once in a while, but it's all a facade. Kratos is just trying to hide his real feelings," Sheena concluded decisively. "And this is why I called you up here today."

"I don't think I quite get it yet," Colette replied slowly, mouth twisting in confusion- or perhaps denial. She watched as Kratos leaned in to say something to Lloyd, noting that the mercenary was almost whispering in her beloved Lloyd's ear. Sheena snorted before exclaiming.

"I'll spell it out to you plain and clear Colette because we women have to stick together. From the evidence, I am convinced that Kratos is gay and he's got a big crush on Lloyd! That makes him our enemy!"

Colette saw Kratos' head whip towards the trees where she and Sheena were nestled in pure surprise. Then he smirked, causing Colette and Sheena to misinterpret his actions; they immediately formed a pact to stop Kratos at all costs from stealing Lloyd's heart away.

If only they knew he could hear the entire exchange and was secretly dying of laughter on the inside. After all, Kratos had a healthy disgust for incest.

**END**

ENDNOTES: The bi-product of after-exam destressing and forty hours of Tales of Symphonia. Hahaha. Enjoy it?


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